Stabbing attack at Kurdish rally in Belgium wounds six

BRUSSELS,— Six people were injured, including two in critical condition, after a knife attack during a Kurdish demonstration in the Belgian city of Antwerp on Thursday evening, Belgian police said.

The attack occurred near the city’s Opera House at around 7:20 p.m. local time as members of the Kurdish community gathered to protest in support of Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava, Western Kurdistan) where where Kurdish forces have faced pressure from advancing Syrian government Islamist troops.

Police arrested four suspects shortly after the incident, and all injured individuals were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment.

Police spokesman Wouter Bruyns told AFP that investigators were still working to establish the motive behind the assault.

Officers were reviewing surveillance camera footage from the area to determine whether additional suspects may have been involved or fled the scene.

Authorities said early findings suggested the suspects blended in with demonstrators before carrying out the stabbings.

The gathering included families, women, young people, and children, according to Orhan Kilic, a spokesperson for Navbel, an organization representing the Kurdish diaspora in Belgium.

Kilic said the attack took place as the demonstration was ending. He stated that a group of men suddenly produced knives and began attacking people at random.

He added that the victims were part of the group attending the protest and that the suspects appeared to have entered the demonstration without drawing attention beforehand.

Belgian police said the case was being treated as attempted murder and stressed that it was not classified as terrorism under Belgian law.

Security measures were reinforced in the surrounding area following the incident, and authorities said they remained in contact with community representatives.

The United Nations has said more than 150,000 people, most of them Kurds, have been displaced in the region following renewed clashes and a fragile ceasefire between Syrian government Islamist forces and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces.

Under growing military and political pressure from Damascus, which aims to reassert control across the country, the Kurdish forces has withdrawn from several areas in recent days.

The group has consolidated its presence in parts of Hasaka province, considered a central stronghold for Kurds in northeast Syria.

(With files from AFP)